Christian Horner said that Ferrari has caught up with Red Bull in terms of straight-line speed.

While Max Verstappen claimed victory in the short qualifying race Saturday in Austria, the Reds overtook the Bulls on Sunday, with Charles Leclerc overtaking Verstappen three times during the race to win.

Carlos Sainz also displayed a similarly strong pace, until a spectacular breakdown of his UP forced him to abandon the GP on lap 56 of 71, just as he was about to overtake Verstappen as well.

Leclerc's victory allowed him to overtake Sergio Perez for P2 in the championship standings, while Ferrari slightly reduced Red Bull's lead in the constructors' standings from 62 points to 56.

Horner acknowledges Ferrari's progress

While Red Bull seemed to be much stronger on the straights than Ferrari, Horner thinks the Scuderia's performance in Austria highlights the progress they have made in this area.

He is now curious to see if they can carry this into the next few races on the calendar.

"I think they've certainly come close in terms of straight-line performance," Horner said.

"But yes, it's too many horses. It will be interesting to see at the next few tracks how that plays out."

Ferrari's reliability problems "not a focus" for Red Bull

In addition to Sainz's sudden abandonment of the race, Ferrari also faced some tense final laps due to Leclerc having a problem with the accelerator pedal in his F1-75.

Horner is not thinking the Italian team's reliability problems, however.

"We are not too focused on that," the Red Bull team boss explained.

"That is a problem that we cannot control. I think we have to focus on ourselves and just get the best out of our own package."

"They had a very strong car at the Austrian GP. They could have quietly finished in P1 and P2."

"Up until lap 12, the weekend had gone very well for us, in terms of pole position, short race win. But unfortunately, tire degradation hit us hard."